LETTER: Science cannot give political answers

Sir: Several of your correspondents claim that science cannot tell us about morality, art, love, or the essence of humanity. This is not a self-evident fact but an outdated ideological dogma.

Altruism, social cohesion, pleasure, ritual display, emotion, spirituality, and all the rest are dispositions of the brain, mediated by body chemicals, built up by genes, and sieved by evolution. All these may be amenable to experiment, demonstrable by mathematical modelling, and traceable through archaeology and anthropology. The only limits to science are those imposed by our ancient enemies, ignorance and fear.

Nicholas Widdows

London NW3